Speeches

Mr President, I, too, welcome the report. Fishermen and women and coastal communities absolutely need to be more involved in decision-making about their lives and their industry. God knows, they’ve been sold out by the EU and successive governments in my own country, Ireland. I do think, however, that co-management schemes or systems need to be designed with the specific needs of small-scale fishers in mind. It should not be the case that such systems only benefit industrial fishing simply because the sector is better organised. Ireland’s fishermen and traditional salmon fishermen we have in parts of Ireland like Wexford and Waterford should be equally valued. In Ireland, back in 2018, the EPP’s Fine Gael government at the time killed the Island Fisheries Bill. The bill aimed to allow island communities to co-manage their fisheries and to start low-impact seasonal fishing from small boats again. Let’s protect small-scale fishers before they disappear.

Mr President, the school scheme for fruit, vegetables, milk and dairy products is vital to promoting healthy nutritional habits for future generations. Yet there are disparities with the implementation of the scheme, as only 16 of the 76 million students in the EU were targeted by the scheme from 2017 to 2023, mostly due to budget issues. This scheme should be in line with the objectives of the farm to fork strategy and to support the 25% organic land target for 2030. The numbers currently do not add up. To make ground on the farm to fork, this scheme needs to be more ambitious, with a budget to match. Since Brexit, the annual budget has decreased and has further diminished in purchasing power due to inflation and distribution costs. If we are serious about it, this scheme needs more funding.

Mr President, I welcome many aspects of this report, but there is a lack of clarity as to why this directive is not included in the list of legislative acts that will be affected by the Media Freedom Act. Now, the report falls short in its provisions to guarantee media pluralism in the safeguards under the Media Freedom Act. Diversity of opinion is something that is sorely lacking from mainstream media, with a concentration of eight corporations owning the lion’s share of media outlets in Europe, according to a report by the European Federation of Journalists. The directive needs to go a lot further to ensure independence of media. Without an independent media, it is very hard to actually claim that you have a democracy, and right now, we have a mainstream media across Europe that is an awful lot more interested in shaping the news rather than telling us. The truth is getting hard to access, and when someone does tell it, like Julian Assange, they lock him up for doing so.

Mr President, as the Deputy Head of Oxfam’s EU office said: ‘[The] EU … ditched the opportunity to boost the EU’s budget by taxing the rich. Not only are European multinationals making profits to levels they never dreamt of, but Europe’s richest 1% pocketed nearly 45% of new wealth since 2020.’ It is obvious where the money is, but we choose to leave it in the pockets of the rich. Sadly, neoliberalism is part of the DNA of the European Union today. That means you prioritise the interests of big business before those of the ordinary citizens, and we see it being increased more and more every day. And what are you doing with a lot of the money? We’re looking at a scary militarisation of Europe. You have a Peace Facility and you are taking billions from it to make sure that peace doesn’t break out in Ukraine. The people of Europe are pretty sceptical about how you use their money.

Mr President, we’re prepared to pull out all the stops to increase our production capacity to produce more ammunition. We’ve the Commission now talking about a war-time economy. Imagine if we were prepared to pull out all the stops to deal with poverty across Europe? Imagine if we were prepared to pull out all the stops to deal with our housing crisis, our health crisis, to deal with the concerns of our citizens? No, but we’ll do anything to promote war. Why don’t we promote peace? Tanks, guns and ammunition never bring peace. Ammunition is designed to kill people, and that’s what it does. But do we give a damn about the Ukrainians that are dying if we’re just going to keep feeding this war? Whatever happened to that idea that the EU was about peace and security? We’re making things worse, we are. It’s time we stop feeding the war machine.

Mr President, firstly, we’d like to thank Jutta and her staff, and in particular Michelle, for all their work on the file. The text we will vote on this week following the vote in the ENVI Committee is a very good one. It’s far more ambitious than the Commission’s proposal. Our main priority was to expand the scope to include imports, and we’re very pleased that the text now extends to imports of oil gas and coal. Another priority was to introduce a methane performance standard, and we’re happy that the text now has a completely new provision tasking the Commission with introducing a mandatory performance standard via a delegated act. However, the text is disappointing in relation to coal: yet again, in behind closed doors negotiations, EPP propped up the far right. Yet again, EPP repeatedly parroted word for word the talking points of the fossil fuel industry and the lobbyists. I hope the EPP’s cosy relationship with the fossil fuel industry is a matter of concern for the Irish MEPs in the EPP.

Mr President, the protection of culture and heritage has been cited as the key reason for the EU action plan against the trafficking of cultural goods. Obviously it would be very difficult for us to address the countries outside of Europe who have stolen stuff from one country or another, but surely a good place to start would be if we insisted on all the European states actually returning the stuff that they have stolen from different countries. They say that 90% of the cultural heritage of Africa is on display outside of Africa at the moment in museums, mostly in Europe. But also there’s been a huge theft in Iraq during the war. There’s been huge theft in Syria. There was a huge theft from Egypt many years ago. And you see evidence of it in museums all across Europe. We’re not going to be able to hold the people who stole it to account – a lot of them are dead – but let’s at least give it back. And there should be an onus on every state in Europe to return what belongs to the state it came from. And just lastly, Commissioner, I thought your speech this morning on the environment was excellent and fair play to you.

Madam President, another final warning from the IPCC. We’re running out of time. The scientists are hoarse from screaming. But who’s taking them serious? The Green Deal was a good idea, Commissioner, a far cry from what was needed, but it was certainly a step in the right direction. But it seems many of its initiatives won’t see the light of day. Where is REACH? Where is the soil health law? Where is everything that was promised in Farm to Fork? We are witnessing the slow death of the Green Deal because of political cowardice, a death which has only been accelerated by the EPP Group, who seem to be on a rampage to guillotine the little bit of climate ambition that’s left. They harp on about protecting food security, but they should read the IPCC report. They might be surprised to learn that climate change is threatening our food security. It is about time we got our act together.

Madam President, I voted against this terrible report. We have EU missions where we misunderstand the local dynamics so badly, we end up exasperating the situation, while the local populations come to see the EU as the enemy. We have a habit of applying one-size-fits-all to entire regions because the aims are, above all, European ones: protecting Europe from terrorism, combating illegalised migration and facilitating or protecting European investments. The 2013 Sahel strategy, for example, made no reference to the fact that NATO had just dismantled a state that, historically, had done most to promote and maintain stability in the region: Libya. Is anyone surprised that the mission is an unmitigated disaster? Now we want to send 5 000 troops off at the drop of a hat. Commissioner Borrell has been candid that this force will possibly be used in boots-on -the-ground combat operations. Brussels should not have a foreign policy, let alone command an EU army.

Madam President, we are totally opposed to this resolution. The EU is playing a destructive role by pushing third countries into camps of ‘us’ and ‘them’. This simplistic interpretation of the world never maps neatly onto entire populations, especially where there are religious and ethnic tensions. The resolution is condescending to Moldovans, full of praise for the current pro-EU government, but painting those who oppose it and its policies as dupes of foreign disinformation not intelligent enough to come to an understanding of the dynamics of their own country. Could it be that Moldovans recognise that their neutrality is essential to the balance of powers that maintain peace; that President Sandu’s economic reforms are deeply unpopular? Could it be that Moldovans can see that the gas crisis partly orchestrated by the government is exasperating the cost of living and threatens to inflame tensions between the central government and the breakaway state of Transnistria? Maybe the EU itself is one of the great challenges for Moldova.

Madam President, this law on deforestation is long overdue, but it is, of course, very welcome. Fair play to the rapporteur, Christophe, he did a good job defending the Parliament’s position, which is a lot more ambitious than the Council’s. The scope of the initial Commission proposal had been widened to include rubber, charcoal printed paper products and certain palm oil derivatives. The definition of forest degradation has also been widened. The exclusion of scrubland and savannahs, however, is disappointing. Now, the biggest problem with the final text, however, is the failure to require companies to ensure that goods are produced in accordance with international human rights laws and respect for indigenous people’s rights. European imperialism is responsible for the dispossession of indigenous peoples. Post-Colonial legal systems have never fully recognised the land rights of these people. It is crucial that this regulation protects those rights by adhering to international standards.

Madam President, prison does not work. Nobody should be in prison unless they’re a danger to society when they’re out free. Navalny and Kara-Murza should be released. The prosecution and attempted extradition of Julian Assange by the US government – who is in prison solely because he exposed US/NATO war crimes – is also horrific. It also provides Russia with illegitimate rhetorical justifications for its own repression of journalists. We call on Russia to release Navalny and Kara-Murza, and we call on the US and the UK to release Julian Assange. We call on the Commission to appeal also for the release of Julian Assange. No one should be imprisoned for telling the truth.

Madam President, the US and NATO destroyed Afghanistan for 20 years, the end result being the return of the brutal Taliban and, according to the UN, almost 23 million facing life—threatening food insecurity and 9 million close to famine. While the US was ending its destructive war in Afghanistan, politicians and the media were overflowing with concern for the Afghan people. Now that the US sanctions are adding to the mass suffering and debt in the country, they have lost interest. It was only a few months ago that the press and wider political establishment took part in one of the most brazen pro-war campaigns in recent memory to undermine and reverse a US withdrawal from the horrific war there. That push, we were told at the time, was because of political and media figures’ intense, overwhelming love and concern for the Afghan people, particularly the women and girls relentlessly cited by people whose hearts suspiciously only started bleeding once there was a prospect of Western bombs and bullets no longer killing them. The hypocrisy in this place is too bad.

Mr President, the EU has repeatedly, again and again, promoted the interests of Big Pharma and trade at the expense of people’s health. Predictably, then, the new EU global health strategy proposes no overhaul of the existing monopoly—based, market driven principles of healthcare provision and vaccine development. The EU should help and empower countries to set up publicly funded and publicly delivered healthcare. The EU should stop blocking countries from making their own medicines and treatments and should put patients before profits. The Global South does not want more aid dependency. It wants vaccine justice and real equity in terms of healthcare access. We need future advance purchase agreements that guarantee downstream global access and affordability, as well as a transfer of manufacturing knowhow that ensures vaccines are a public good. It’s mind—blowing that the production of medicines is still treated as a money—making initiative instead of a life—saving initiative. We need to prioritise saving lives instead of protecting corporate and political interests.

Mr President, war is horrific. The idea of the mistreatment of thousands of children is horrific and unthinkable. Any war crimes that Putin is responsible for, it is absolutely vital that he is held to account for them. Just as those over 45 countries were part of the coalition of the willing in the illegal war in Iraq, which led to the death of over a million citizens and the displacement of over 9 million. Those who committed war crimes in Iraq should be held accountable. In 2019, the then-Chief Prosecutor of the ICC, Bensouda, announced an investigation into Israeli war crimes. The Americans threatened her. Later, she declared her intention to investigate US war crimes and Taliban war crimes in Afghanistan. They sanctioned her and revoked her US visa. Benjamin Ferencz, the last living Nuremburg prosecutor, died two weeks ago. He once said there are some people who do not trust the rule of law and they prefer to use military power to achieve their goals. War will make mass murderers out of otherwise decent people. Say no to all war.

Mr President, since the detention of Pedro Castillo, the unelected Peruvian Government of Dina Boluarte, has unleashed a wave of terror. 70 people demanding political change have been killed and thousands have been injured. The government deployed troops across the country and suspended democratic rights, such as freedom of assembly and speech. Amnesty have documented repeated incidents of unlawful use of lethal weapons against civilians, particularly against the indigenous population and rural farmworkers. Now, these disgraceful human rights violations have been strongly condemned by some Latin American leaders. If this was Venezuela or Nicaragua or Cuba, I think the EU and the US would be clamouring for foreign intervention. But since Boluarte’s government is a neoliberal regime, there has been little more than expressions of concern. Recent polls show that 70 % of the people don’t just want elections but they want Boluarte gone. Now, once again, the EU and the US could find themselves on the wrong side of the people. But it’s possible to change this and I think there’s an onus on the EU to do better this time.

Mr President, Mr Borrell, if the EU should have a coherent strategy for the EU-China relations, it should not originate in Brussels. We just had the embarrassing spectacle of the Commission President speaking ahead of a major diplomatic visit to China and slinging accusations at a Chinese Government that have scant connection to reality. The remarks were so bizarre and contradictory, it was difficult to decipher who their intended audience was. The fact is that some EU countries have good relations – trade and otherwise – with China, and other EU countries are less enthusiastic. There is a Washington-led campaign to counter China’s economic influence in the world, so we see US talking points about internal repression and assertive behaviour abroad being parroted by EU representatives, while the US has no problem growing its trade and investment with China year on year. US financial capital wants to make profits in China and in Europe, and driving a wedge between the EU and China is a good way of going about it for them. And very sadly, there’s people in Brussels who appear to be helping them to do it.

Mr President, after weeks of nationwide strikes and protests, Macron signed his deeply unpopular pension reform legislation into law last Saturday. Constitutional scholars are debating the pitfalls of a constitution that could be used legally in such an anti-democratic manner. Since the start of his mandate, Macron has hammered through crushing labour laws, tax cuts and neoliberal reforms – packages that rip up the social safety net and attack the working class, migrants and the poor. All this while doing everything in his power to benefit big business. Over a million people took to the streets to reject his latest reforms. They were met with mass police violence, arrests, tear gas, rubber bullets, the baton and water cannon. If this was a country targeted for a regime change, we’d be passing resolutions in here calling for sanctions against the authoritarian regime. Instead, there is complete silence as this autocratic neoliberal – with a 28% approval rating – intensifies his anti-democratic coercion of the people of France.

Mr President, the idea of civilian CSDP should be a positive endeavour. Conflict resolution, disarmament and crisis management are deeply important today, yet the report before us is committed to a militaristic framing of these practices that undermines the pretence that there is very much strictly civilian about civilian CSDP at all. The report stresses that the increased presence of strategic competitors in operational theatres necessitates more effective civilian CSDP, better able to adapt to new challenges. The report characterises migration as a security threat, calls for an increase in defence spending, civil-military cooperation and closer cooperation with NATO. God help us. The EU maintains an economic stranglehold and systems of exploitation over many of the places where these missions are active. As long as we ignore the structural barriers to peace, view all problems through a militaristic lens and learn no lessons from the many disastrous wars we’ve taken part in, we’ll do very little to advance peace or stability in these regions surrounding Europe.

Mr President, we need to be very careful with how we set up carbon farming. In Ireland, we have a target of 25% emissions reductions for the agricultural sector by 2030. It would be a total disaster if we had farmers selling off carbon credits, absorbing their decarbonisation efforts and handing them over to big businesses to greenwash their activities. Farmers wouldn’t be able to count these efforts towards their own 2030 targets. This would make the 25% target even more difficult for the agricultural sector to achieve. Is this what’s wanted? Farmers need finance for carbon removals. There are ways we can get private finance into carbon farming without damaging farmers and giving dirty industries a free pass, such as a contribution claim model. There’s also an EU instrument that takes up a third of all the EU budget: it’s called the CAP. And it’s about time that we made the CAP fit for purpose – one that would actually help farmers to move in the right direction.

Mr President, in here we like to use human rights as a stick to beat other countries with. But the European Convention on Human Rights represents a joint commitment by signatories to respect and protect human rights at home. That’s why it was so disappointing to see Ireland argue last week against the case taken by the Swiss Climate Seniors and claim that the Convention does not guarantee a right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Ireland was the second country worldwide to declare a climate emergency back in 2019, yet we had the highest emissions per capita in the EU in the second half of last year. We are playing an active role in this devastating climate emergency which claimed the lives of 15 000 people in the EU in 2022. It’s about time the Irish Government did a bit more than talk about climate action.

Mr President, these legislative files are supposed to contribute to the EU’s goal of reducing its overall emissions by at least 55% by 2030. Firstly, that 55% reduction target is far too low, given the EU’s historical contribution to global rising temperatures and the EU’s capacity to reduce its emissions. But secondly, the individual legislative files that are part of the Fit for 55 package are – after the legislative process has been completed – failing to add up to the overall 55% reduction target. The final outcome of the emission trading system process is unfit to contribute towards the EU’s goal of reducing its overall emissions by at least 55% by 2030, and is way off the mark for what is required to keep temperature rises within the relatively safe zone of 1.5°C. The ETS has failed to deliver any meaningful reductions in industrial emissions from sectors such as steel, cement and chemicals. This is mainly due to the billions of free pollution permits given to energy—intensive industries under the scheme – and now we’re repeating the same mistake again.

Madam President, when arbitrary political decision-making has undue influence or interferes in established law, we have a rule of law problem. This is often precisely what happens when the EU makes use of its unilateral sanctions mechanism. We are applying crushing extraterritorial unilateral sanctions and secondary sanctions on governments and individuals that have a blanket effect on entire populations. These decisions are taken by the Council – a political body – based on political prejudice and geo political agendas. These sanctions have terrible impact on countries such as Venezuela, Nicaragua, Syria and Iran, among others. Ordinary people are dying in tens of thousands for lack of access to medicines and medical treatments, all because of a small collection of political actors have political grudges against the administrations in these countries. This is international banditry and political persecution with next to no basis in customary international law. What is the Commission going to do about this?

Madam President, these gases have a huge global warming impact and need to be phased out as soon as possible. I want to address some concerns raised by the heat pump associations that the quota available in the regulation will hamper the rollout of heat pumps. Now, the heat pump industry will be central to the decarbonisation of the EU. But their concerns have already been addressed by the Commission in its impact assessment and technical discussions. Simply giving an even bigger quota is not the solution. Quotas are not allocated to any specific sector. Therefore, the heat pump manufacturers would receive only a small fraction of any additional quota that would have been distributed. The Environmental Committee report explicitly provides a REPowerEU reserve for heat pumps, which means that the Commission will be able to give additional quotas to heat pump manufacturers if any shortages arise that might derail heat pump installation targets. Now, but the derogation for military equipment is an absolute joke. So the sector causing untold damage to the planet are getting a free pass. This is madness.

Madam President, despite the principle of equal pay being enshrined in the Treaty of Rome, the EU continues to struggle with pay disparity. European women are, on average, paid almost 14% less than their male counterparts. It’ encouraging that this text allows workers to detect and prove discrimination based on sex, as well as shifting the burden of proof of non-discrimination from the employee to the employer. Despite being a step in the right direction, pay transparency is not a magic wand that will bridge the pay gap. In the EU the income of a typical care worker ranges from between 50% and 80% less than the average income. The low pay, work conditions and the segregation of women into care work must end if we are in any way to advance gender equality and pay in our society.